


The Principles of Magick

by fanon_and_canon (v_e_x_x)



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Empath, F/F, Fluff, Gay Adam (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Keith Has Fire Powers (Voltron), Keith is an empath, Lance Has Water Powers (Voltron), Langst, M/M, Whump, Witch AU, Witch Allura, Witch Keith, Witch Lance, Witch Pidge, coven - Freeform, elemental magick, fire magick, pidge is a girl, water magick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24998812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_e_x_x/pseuds/fanon_and_canon
Summary: Lance has been stalked and beaten by Sendak for far too long and gets rescued by Keith to find out that he's also a witch. Keith, with the help of some friends, helps Lance to control his magick and harness it. Hopefully Sendak gets what he deserves.
Relationships: Klance - Relationship, adashi - Relationship
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter One

I was running down an empty alleyway, desperately trying to get away from him. I turn the corner and slam smack into somebody, I try to utter a quick apology so that I can keep running but the person grabs my wrist. I feel my body grow cold.

“Uhm, hey, are you okay?” The stranger asks and actually seems genuinely concerned. Before I answer my name is yelled and I can hear heavy, rushed footsteps- he almost reached the corner when the stranger suddenly released his grip and I duck behind a building and just hope that he doesn’t see me. My breath halts as he approaches the stranger and asks if he’s seen me.

“Yeah! Uh, he went that way.” My eyes widen and I prepare myself for him to find me. But he doesn’t, his footsteps sound off in the complete opposite direction. Once I deem them to be far enough away I ducked out of sight, not saying goodbye to the stranger.

I was on my way to a shelter when a guy pulled up next to me on a red motorcycle. “Hey, you okay? You ran off before I could ask.” His helmet covered his face so I couldn’t see what he looked like. All I could see was some black hair poking out from the bottom of the helmet.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good. Thanks.” I start walking away but he follows.

“Need a place to stay?”

“I’m staying with a friend. Thanks again, though.” I start walking a bit faster, luckily he seems to get the hint and drives away. I was lucky that the shelter had a spot open when I arrived.

I set my stuff down and fall asleep on the cot.

*******

It was four months after that and I was walking around town with my things, trying to find a place to crash for the night. Sendek had been keeping up with me and it was safer to not stay in one place for too long. He had me trained well. All of the sudden Sendek was there.

He was holding me by my shoulder- hard. Not daring to loosen his grip in case I would run. I wouldn’t, though. Running would just make it worse. I flinched when he slapped me across the face, which also makes it worse.

“Was that a flinch I just saw?” He asked in that annoyingly clear and calm voice. I knew not to answer though. He didn’t tell me to speak. “Good boy, not answering. I still have to do something about that flinch, though.” He drew back a fist and slammed it into my nose, not enough to break it since he used his non dominant hand. It took me a second to figure out why but then I remembered his wedding ring, he wanted the ring to do the damage and not the actual punch.

“This one is just for fun.”

He was preparing for another strike, with more force this time, when an arm quickly found its way around my waist and I was flung backwards. I accidentally slammed my head against the brick wall when I tripped over my duffle bag. The connection caused me to slump to the ground, feeling dizzy. I looked up and saw that Sendek had been punched. It startled him and he stumbled backwards. I was then picked up and rushed away, Sendek not too far behind. I was ushered onto the back of a motorcycle and we sped off. I was falling in and out of consciousness due to hitting my head and the gash in my nose which was causing blood to cloud my vision as it steadily flowed into my eyes.

The next thing I remember is that I was being lifted off the motorcycle and into a house. The person yelled as he opened the front door. “SHIRO! I NEED HELP!” Two people rushed into the room, I’m assuming that one of them was Shiro. I was sat on a chair at a table while one of the people ran off somewhere saying something about a first aid kit. My backpack was set by the door with my duffle bag.

“What happened, Keith?” The other of two men, who got a wet rag from somewhere. He handed it to the person who helped me.

“I dunno. Some man was just- well. The man was chasing him a few months ago, too.” He was gently wiping my eye. They were talking back and forth, but the blood was still flowing into my eye.  _ He’s doing this wrong. He’s being too gentle. He’s never going to get anything cleaned like this.  _ I was thinking to myself when the other returned with a box. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me. He was turning my face and looking at my wound. “You’re going to need stitches.” The man said, rummaging around in the box. He muttered to himself about not having done this in a while.

I was finally able to get my body to respond. I held out my hand and the man looked at me, clearly confused. He stopped threading the needle. “You want  _ this _ ?” He said, holding up the needle and thread. I nodded. “Uhm, are you sure? Do you know what you’re doing?” I nodded once more. “Okay, I’ll uh, I’ll get you a mirror then.”

He left and I was handed the rag from the one called Keith. I held it up to my nose as the other man returned with a small tabletop mirror. I was able to look and see the damage.  _ Not bad. It could be worse. _ I began to clean my wound as best as I could and started to stitch myself up. I then put a bandaid over the stitches and then for good measure held down the edges with some medical tape. I finished off with cleaning out my eye.

The three people watched me as I did all of this. After I had finished and everything was cleaned up I got up and went to leave, noticing my duffle by the door. The one who saved me, Keith, grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?” He asked, “You can’t just go back out there.” The one who got the rag then stood and spoke as well. “Please, stay. At least for the night. It can’t be safe for you to go back out there with the person who did this to you.” I reluctantly sat back down.  _ Only one night. Besides, all of the shelters will be filled up by now, I barely got a spot last night. _

After it was decided that I was staying I was given proper introductions and learned that the one who saved me was Keith. The man who gave me the rag was Shiro. The third person’s name was Adam. Shiro and Adam were married. Keith and Shiro were brothers. “So, what’s your name?” Adam asks me.

I stayed silent. They ask me some more questions- mainly revolving around Sendek. Had it happened before? A nod, but still silence. Why? A shrug. How do you know him? Silence.

Eventually Shiro and Adam left to give Keith and I some space. He caught me staring at him. He stared back and looked confused. I looked down.  _ Why does he look so familiar?  _ He had black hair that grazed the back of his neck in a mullet style, blue-gray eyes, and a narrow frame. “Do you remember me?” He asked me and then I felt my body grow cold and it’s as if time froze.  _ The alley. _ I was too worried that somebody knew I had this happening to me repeatedly to focus on anything else.  _ What could he possibly think of me now? _

Keith starts laughing which breaks me out of my daze. “Would you mind not freezing the couch?” I look down at my hands, I was literally freezing the couch. Ice was coming from hands. I jumped up and stared at them, they were slightly blue. My breath became quicker and I felt dizzy.

“Wait.. did you not know?” Keith asks, gesturing to the sofa. “It happened in the alley, too. You started to freeze my hand, that’s why I had to let go.” I look at him, bewildered. “You seriously didn’t know?” He stood up and walked towards me. I stepped back.

I was shaking violently. I had backed up to the breakfast bar, my back pressed against it. Keith stood in front of me and gently held my shoulders, making us closer than I would have liked.

“Hey, breathe. Okay?” He was talking softly and trying to calm me down. “And trust me, you’re not going to hurt me.”

My body was only growing colder and I couldn’t bring myself to look down and see what was happening. “Why don’t you sit down?” He led me to the couch and sat next to me. I was internally counting my breaths, trying to calm myself down. It was a trick I picked up from one too many PTSD attacks.  _ At least Sendek stalking me had taught me something. _ He put his arm around me for comfort and I gladly leaned into him. He was still talking to me, but I couldn’t really hear what he was saying, I was too exhausted. I don’t know when, but I ended up falling asleep.

In the morning I find myself not sitting next to Keith but laying down with my head in his lap, I also have a blanket on top of me. I stand up, careful not to wake Keith, and head for my stuff. “Where are you going?” Keith asks. “You really think leaving is the best option?” The truth was that I didn’t. I just didn’t want to burden them and overstay my welcome. Keith slides the straps of my bookbag off of my shoulders and set it back down on the floor, I didn’t even notice him walk up to me. “You just got attacked  _ and  _ found out you’ve got powers yesterday. I truly don’t think it’s a good idea to leave.” I stood there for a moment to ponder this.  _ I mean, he isn’t wrong. I know I can move on pretty quickly from being attacked by Sendek but I don’t know anything about these so called ‘powers’. I could hurt somebody and Keith seems to know a lot about this stuff. _

I returned to the living room and sat back down on the couch, moving the blanket to the side. Keith sat down on a chair across from me. “Okay, so since you didn’t know I’m assuming that you’ve never had anything weird happen?” I shook my head. “I figured as much. Well, so far it’s only ice but it could be linked to the emotion that you were feeling at the time. A lot of witches in training display many different elements during different emotions, the emotions are usually overwhelming and the stuff just happens. Like with you and the couch.” I nodded to show that I understood. “How old are you?” He asks.

I stay silent.

“Okay, well. I want to train you.”

I look at him with widened eyes.

“We don’t have to start right away, not until you’re ready.” He thinks for a moment. The front door opens. “Damn, that sounds dramatic.” Someone new walks into the room and speaks again. “Keith, are you being a drama queen again?” He laughs and Keith chucks a pillow at him, which he ducks. He throws it back and hits me instead of Keith. “Oh! Sorry!” He says between laughs. I laugh a little as well.

“I’m Matt, by the way. You?” He says, I stand up.

Matt goes to shake my hand but I’m hesitant. Matt cocks an eyebrow, hand still extended. I stand to shake it and pull my hand back a little too quickly.

Adam walks into the room and him doing so saves me from the awkward encounter. “Hey, ass.” He says to Adam.

“Right back at you.” Adam returns.

“Shiro up yet?” Matt asks, heading towards the back of the house.

“Yeah, he’s in the study. C’mon.” Both of them walk down the hallway and disappear into another room.

Keith stood and spoke once they left the room. “You don’t have to worry, Matt’s a good person.”

I look down at the mark I left on the couch. 

“I promise you don’t have to worry about that. As far as I’ve seen it only happens when you’re really scared.” He looks me directly in the eyes and holds my arms. “So, tell me,” he steps forward and pulls me closer to him, “are you scared?” I felt cold again, I was scared. Keith stepped closer and something happened, a warmth that started in my core and began to spread throughout my body. It was calming. Keith smiled. “Better?” He asks.

I don’t know how he did it but it was better. I nod. I think it’s obvious I’m flustered.

Keith just laughs steps away. “Good.” I feel the warmth slowly recede and it makes me sad to have it go. It was nice.

I give him a confused look. I’m still wishing that the warm feeling would return.

Keith laughed again and spoke. “I just focused on an emotion and had it spread from me to you.”

It’s very obvious that I’m still confused.

Keith chuckles again. “It’s just called magick. Fire magick, if you want to be specific. What I did is just something empaths can do if they’re really experienced. The other person has to be open enough to accept it, though. Or vulnerable enough if they don’t know it’s happening.”

The idea scared me. I hated being vulnerable with people. I also wasn’t sure how I felt about the fact that he could just make me feel any kind of way he wanted.

“No!” Keith said as he shook his head, realizing his mistake. “Not like that, I just mean that you’re not emotionally guarded, or the emotions are too overwhelming to not allow it to happen. This is more of an energy that makes your body have a certain emotion. I focused and made myself feel calm and I just sort of transferred it to you. Think of it like a ball of light. The more of an energy you have the bigger that ball gets.” He demonstrated with a flame in his palm. “If I focus enough and if the other person is willing to accept it,” he gently grasps my hand and holds it next to the one with the flame and slowly puts the fire ball into my hand, “then it’s theirs. Then they can have that energy, and sometimes it can be shared.” He splits the fire ball in half and then we each had two halves. I just stared at it and smiled.

Keith chuckles and puts his half back into my hand and watches me turn it around in my hands. He was smiling at me. Once I noticed I looked up at him and blushed.

“No, don’t be nervous. It’s just… it’s just that you look really-”

Shiro walked into the room and cut Keith off. “Showing off, Keith?” Shiro smirks, nodding at the fire in my palm. Keith doesn’t take his eyes off of the glowing ball but still responds. “Fuck off, you wish you could do this.” Shiro laughs as Adam and Matt join us. “We’re going out, okay kiddo?” Shiro says as he ruffles his brother’s hair, who ducks and the flame goes out.

“Ah, shit. Sorry I lost my eye- BYE GUYS!” he yells after the three then turns his head back to me, “I lost eye contact.”

I just continue staring at my palm and then I look at him and nod.

Keith cocks an eyebrow at me. “You want to learn?” I nod vigorously. “That quick, huh?” I smile. “Alrighy, let’s go.” He walks towards the door and grabs his keys from a bowl by the door. I followed and walk out and look at the red motorcycle. “You coming?” Keith asks as he grabs me a helmet.

I pause, unsure.

“You’ll be fine, I promise.”

I dawn the headwear and awkwardly climb on the back of the motorcycle. Keith laughs at me again. “You gotta hold on.”

I look around trying to find what I was supposed to hold onto.

He laughs harder. “No. Me. You have to hold onto me.” I lean forward and loosely wrap my arms around him. He chuckles softly and grasps my wrists to tighten my hold.

Keith drives off, I'm a bit jarred and grip him tighter. He leans forward- I'm assuming to help with the speed- and this causes me to lay on his back. My chin ends up on his shoulder and it takes me a bit to get used to this. Once I do I relax my grip relaxes a little and I start to look around.

Buildings, cars, and people are colorful blurs. I can feel the wind blowing around my body.  _ This is exciting _ . I feel like I'm part of a different place. Just outside of existence yet part of the Earth all the same. I don't feel scared, I feel grounded. I smile to myself the whole ride. 

Once we get to the edge of a forest Keith stops and I lift my leg up to get off but he tightens my grip around him once more. As soon as I put my leg back in its place he speeds off into the forest, making his own path through the trees and bushes. This time I do feel nervous, but it's still exciting. The sunlight shines on us through the leaves and branches of the flora around us. Eventually we reach a clearing where Keith stops to park. We get off and he smirks at me. I instinctively reach for my head and try to fix my hair.

“No. Not helmet hair- well, yes you have it. But no that’s not why I was staring.” I finish fixing my hair as best I can and give him a blank look.

“Remember how I said that different emotions could show different types of magick?” I nodded. “Well, you were growing plants in the sidewalks and roads as we were driving by. They weren't too big but they were there all right.”

Keith chuckles and steps up to me and I flinch slightly as he raised his hand to fix the rest of my hair. He pulls his hand back and gives me a concerned look. My body language shows him that I’m apologetic.

“No, don’t apologize. I’m just worried. You didn’t do that yesterday?”

I shrugged and Keith spoke again. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He tilted his head slightly.

I smile and give him a thumbs up. He didn’t look convinced. I start walking into the forest, waiting to be told where to go.

“Well then, we’re just going to have to break you from that habit. I want you to know that it’s safe. That I’m safe. You might know that but your subconscious doesn’t. You flinched because you were trained to think that you’re going to get hurt if someone reaches for you. I just have to sort of untrain you.”

After a second Keith chuckles. “I guess I need to both train and untrain you.” Eventually Keith led me to a clearing near a large lake. It has trees lining it in a huge circle, the occasional scorch mark can be seen which tells me this is where he wanted to take me.

“Okay, so, first off in our made up lesson plans- you need to learn how to be self aware and control your emotions. A good way to do this is meditating, so answering with the first thing that comes to your head, lake or ground?”

I pointed to the lake. He smiles and motions for me to follow him and he leads me to a docked canoe. “Do you know how to row?” I nodded, seeing where this was going.

“Good.” Keith hands me the ore and I climb into the canoe. “Row yourself out into the center and I’ll tell you what to do then.” I do as instructed and soon I’m being guided through meditation from Keith. He told me this was supposed to help me discover what my true element was. He explained that while I can train in other elements I still need to find my core. The core is the element that’s going to be the easiest for me to begin training with. After I’m fully fluent and comfortable with that element I can move on.

After several long hours on the lake we had nothing, I rowed myself in and Keith helped me up and put away the canoe. “Don’t worry. It takes lots of patience and you did really good for your first time. Are you ready to head back?” I nod and we start back off towards his motorcycle. We arrive back in the dead of night and we walk in as quietly as we can, the couch is set up like proper bed, with pillows and blankets, along with a folded set of clothes. “Goodnight.” Keith says and smiles as he heads towards the back of the house. “Lance.” I whisper at a volume which normally wouldn’t be very audible but sounded like a lion in the dead silence of the night.

Keith froze and walked back to me from his spot in the hall. He held out his hand. “Great to meet you, Lance.” I briefly shook his hand and he went back to where he was and disappeared into the darkness. I quickly changed my clothes and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

I woke up the next morning and my head was reeling. It hurt so much. “Yeah, sorry. I forgot to warn you about that.” Keith said, he was sitting on the breakfast bar literally playing with fire. I sat up slowly and rubbed the back of my neck. “How bad is it? Do you need anything for it?” I shake my head and stand up to begin folding the blankets I had been given. Keith slid off of the counter and started helping me. “Don’t worry, we’ll find a proper bed for you soon. Hopefully this isn't too uncomfortable in the meantime.” I smile to show him it’s fine. “Good.” He says as he returns the smile.

“We can take a rest day if you want but it would definitely be better to continue daily until we find your element.” I nod. “Okay, get dressed and we’ll head out, okay? They put your stuff in my room. C’mon, I’ll show you.” He leads me through the back of the house and I look around the room he’s lead me into. It’s about what I expected, a few posters here and there of different video games, bands, and movies. A small television with two consoles hooked up to it lie in one corner of the room with a small couch and bean bag chair. On the other end a decent looking laptop, There’s also a pretty good sized bed that’s sloppily made with a gray comforter and an end table with a lamp and a fish bowl- he told me the fish was named Eeppo. I see my things in front of the door for his closet.

I rummage through my bad and pull out some clothes then head to the bathroom to change. I come out to see Keith dressed and keys in his hands. “Ready?” I nod and follow him out the door and take my place behind him on the motorcycle and we head to the same clearing as before.

*******

After about a month and a half of the same routine we still didn’t have anything. I felt useless as I lay on the air mattress in Keith’s room. Shiro and Adam had gotten it for me about three weeks ago. I had trouble falling asleep. I still hadn’t said anything to Keith other than my name those few weeks ago. Not that I had to, he always understood.

He rolled over on his side to face me. “Hey, you okay?” He was half asleep.

I nodded and he sat up, he didn’t believe me. “I know it’s rough but I promise that it’s totally normal. You’re doing really good.” I let out a heavy sigh and he turned on the small lamp on his end table. Eeppo swam to the top of his bowl, thinking it was feeding time. Keith gave him a tiny amount of dried worms then turned back to me.

“Remember what I keep saying? Patience yields focus.” I nod and dramatically throw myself backwards onto the pillow, the mattress rocking slightly as I do so. This makes Keith laugh. “Look who the drama queen is now!” I chucked my pillow at him, smiling. He returns the favor and I laugh aloud. A lot. I just can’t help it. Keith is smiling, “You’ve never laughed like that before.” I blush and lower my head a bit. The emotion in the room changes from the light and whimsical mood to a more serious one. Keith is staring and I meet his gaze before dropping it once more.

“You shouldn’t have to feel bad about laughing, Lance,” I wince at the sound of my name, “Or telling me your name. Do you regret doing that?” I shake my head immediately. _I don’t regret telling him. I’m just not used to it is all. I’ll get used to it._ Keith chuckles slightly. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?” After a few moments of silence he smiles. “Alright. No rush. I’ve been researching a lot though, about how people in your situation react and cope. Silence is a learned behavior and-” He stops, my guess is because he noticed that I was now silently crying. My body began to grow colder and colder. I could hear and feel nothing. I was shaking a bit now as well. I felt a warmth attempting to swirl its way into my body but the cold was fighting it off, rejecting it. I knew what the warmth was but I couldn’t do anything to stop the cold. I was consumed and then I passed out.

*******

I woke up the next morning next to Keith in the bed. Even though he was asleep he looked exhausted. The air mattress was gone. I slowly sat up and almost black out once again. Keith shifted and eventually opened his eyes. “Hey. How are you? I’m sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. Are you okay? How long have you been awake?” I give him an extremely confused look.

“Right, sorry. You don’t talk. Yes or no questions, then. Are you okay?” He earns another confused look. I point to where the air mattress was. “Do you not remember what happened?” I shake my head no.

“You had a panic attack. I was talking about how I was researching your situation. You froze the entire thing and it popped.”

I look down. “C’mon. We should get going.” I get up, grab some of my clothes and head to the bathroom to change. I walk out and Shiro is standing by the door with Keith. Either he or Adam had taken to accompanying us every so often. I follow them out to Shiro’s green SUV. He drove us to the edge of the forest and we walked to the clearing. I took my place out on the lake and Keith was guiding me through my meditation once again.

Something different happens this time, though. This time I end up not hearing anything. All sound ends up blocking itself from my mind, I feel grounded. I feel like I’m part of the Earth and the forest around me. I don’t know how long I was like this but I suddenly bring myself back to reality. Cheers and laughter can be heard from the shore. I open my eyes to see that Shiro was surrounded by a small tornado. Though small as it may be it was still enough to have him six feet above the ground. I guess I did something because it went away and Shiro dropped to the ground, hard.

I walk over to them and stand next to Keith, looking sheepish. “Hey! No need to be sorry, my man. You found your element! We should go out tonight and celebrate. It’s amazing!” Once we get back Shiro goes to find Adam and tell him the good news. Keith and I head back to his room and he shuts the door. “Good job today, I’m really really proud of you, you know? We don’t have to go out if you don’t want to. I know they wanted to celebrate it but they’ll understand if you don’t want to go out.”

Adam knocks on the door and pokes his head in to see if a movie was good. Keith looks at him and I give him a sign of confirmation. Keith confirms and Adam shuts the door saying we were leaving in ten minutes.

I lay down on the bed and close my eyes, preparing myself to go out into public. I think I dozed off because a second later Keith was tapping my shoulder and telling me that it was time to go. I stood up and followed him to the door. Adam and Shiro were already in the car, soft punk was playing with the volume on low- my guess was so that the silence could be filled.

I sat in the back behind Adam, Keith behind Shiro- he was driving. “Okay! What movie do you guys wanna see? Comedy? Thriller? Horror?  _ Romantic _ ?” __ Shiro puts a lot of emphasis on the word romantic, Keith just gives him a weird look that I can’t quite place.

Keith looks at me and I just shrug.  _ I have no idea what movie I want to see. It’s actually been awhile since I’ve seen a movie.  _

“Horror?” Adam suggests to Keith, who looks to me for either a veto or confirmation. I give a thumbs up and then Adam and Shiro retracted to their own conversation. Keith took this opportunity to talk to me.

_ “ _ Do you actually like horror movies? _ ”  _ I nodded. “Good. So you  _ weren’t _ trying to just be easy going?” I shake my head. “Well, I mean. Even if you were I guess that just gives me an excuse to hold your hand.” __ The conversation in the front half of the car got quieter, they presumably, were listening in. I just blushed a bit and looked out the window.  _ Bad time to not speak. Good going, he probably thinks he said something wrong.  _

It looks like my suspicions were right when he began to peer out of his own window and the music was turned up. Luckily it wasn’t long before we got to the theater and we got tickets to something that sounded really cheesy. It was just called ‘Vrepit Sa’. I guess it was some weird forigne film. We skipped any food because the line at the snack bar was insane. When we got into the theater it was actually pretty packed. There was nowhere were four seats were in a row. We decided to split up and sit in twos. Keith and I found a seat near the front while Adam and Shiro went to the back.  __

Once we sit down Keith looks at me. “About what I said in the car, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make anything weird- it was just supposed to be a joke to follow up on the whole romantic movie comment.” I try to hide my slight disappointment with a smile.  _ Oh. A joke.  _

He smiles, but it looks a little strained. The movie starts so I didn’t know what else to do but turn my head towards the screen.

*******

I actually enjoyed the movie. It had a good plot and lacked those horror movie stereotypes. It still wasn’t scary, though. On the way back Keith was still a little bit reserved from earlier. Adam and Shiro were talking about the movie. They liked it, too. The drive was once again short and when we pulled up I had dozed off slightly. Keith, however, was dead asleep.

Shiro got up and woke Keith. We walked back to his room and I got changed into some pyjamas. I walked back in and Keith was sitting on his bed thumbing through a book. I knocked, even though the door was open, as not to startle him. He looked up. “Hey, Lance. I can turn off the light if you wanted to sleep. Or if you wanted to go back out to the sofa you could as well. I think They’re planning on getting an actual bed in here, not just an air mattress.”

I climb under the covers and face him. “It’s okay, you know.” I tried to say it at full volume but my voice is just too hoarse that it came out as a whisper.

Keith closed his book and set it on the end table. “What do you mean?”

I grab his hand and he just chuckles. “Oh. That.” He responds by turning out the light and settling down in the bed. Just as I’m about to doze off for the night I feel his grip tighten. I smile a little and fall asleep for the night.


	2. Chapter Two

It felt like I wasn’t even asleep for a second before Keith was shaking me awake. I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the clock on his bedside table. 3:26am. I glare at him and he just raises his hand in defense. “I know, I know. But seriously- this is going to be cool, come on. The bike is already running, don’t bother changing there isn’t time.”

I give a heavy and dramatic sigh at Keith as he’s walking out the door to his room. My body fights me when I get up but within a few moments I’m on Keith’s motorcycle trying to not fall asleep on the ride over to- wherever it was that he was taking us.  _ The town looks really pretty.  _ It’s silent and lit by street lamps- giving the streets a dim glow. 

I’m still barely awake by the time we get to a large field with tall grass that reaches my chest. Keith has a huge smile on my face and he grabs my hand, stringing me along. He’s using a small flame to light the way. We weave in and out of the grass that only seems to be getting taller the father we go, making it extremely difficult to see. 

Keith suddenly stops, causing me to run into him. He smiles and holds a finger to his lips. He walks forward, slower this time. He keeps his steps quiet and crouches behind a large rock, pointing to a small creek. He sits down and whispers. “Sometimes they’re a little late. But don’t worry, they’ll be here soon.” __

“Here,” he says, leaning with his back against the rock, “you can sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time.” He holds out an arm, and invitation to use his shoulder as a pillow. I gladly accept and fall back asleep almost instantly.

Keith woke me up and told me to be quiet. He points to the creek and I see why he wanted to bring me here. On one of the banks a small gathering of people were chanting- though I couldn’t make out what they were saying. The group was made up of all women and they wore all white dresses.

Keith leans in close to my ear. “A coven, every third of the month they come here to draw in energy from the Earth.” I smile at the women and stare into the fire. I see many shapes dancing and flickering within the flames. I start to feel strange. It’s a good strange- I feel strong and confident, like I can do anything, I feel happy.

I hear quiet, breathy laughter next to me. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you. You just seem really excited by all of this. How do you feel?” He seems like he already knows the answer.

“Happy.” I say without any hesitation, taking both Keith and I by surprise. He smiles and we watch for a few more moments before Keith is leading me away.

“Come on, I’ve only been given permission to watch that part- everything else is private.”

I follow him back to the bike and we head home, the sun starting to rise in the distance. I lay my head on his back, smiling softly. When we pull up he kills his engine but doesn’t move. “We have two options: go back in and sleep then train or just go straight to training.” I push my head into his back a bit more, causing him to laugh softly. “Okay, okay. We can go back inside.” I had my eyes halfway open. I just stay still, making him laugh again. He picks me up bridal style and carries me indoors. “I could have walked.” I mumble, barely enunciating. There was a small pause before he spoke again. “Are you complaining?” I push my head into his shoulder. “Good.” Keith says, he’s speaking low so he doesn’t wake Shiro and Adam or disturb my sleepy mental state. We lay down and I guess Keith expected me to roll away from him because he waits to pull the covers over us. He’s warm. I smile when he puts his arm around me. I lay my arm across his stomach. 

“How did you know them?” I say, lazily. Not bothering to articulate.

“You’re talkative when you’re tired.” He starts to rub his thumb in circles around my shoulder. “I only know one of them- Pidge. She was telling me about their rituals a while ago. She asked the coven if I could watch sometimes and benefit from it, they agreed. Which is huge for a coven to let an outsider watch. Especially for an all female coven allowing a male.”

“Mm.” I mumble, starting to fall asleep again. He continues tracing random patterns around my back.

A second later it’s suddenly nine in the morning. Keith chuckles. “Good morning sleepyhead. C’mon, breakfast then train?” I lay my head back down on what I thought was a pillow but was actually his shoulder, my forehead in the crook of his neck. I forgot I fell asleep in his arms. “I know we had a breakthrough yesterday and people like to break for a bit after one that big- but that’s why we should keep going. Keep up the progress.” I let out the most dramatic sigh of my life.

“I could also just get up, then you wouldn’t be so comfortable. So, you can get up the nice way or not.” Keith looks at me with a smirk. I roll across him and flop onto the floor. “Lance, come on. You gotta get up, dude.” I stand and bow. “You’re such a brat.” Keith laughs at his own comment as he stands up.

We walk out into the kitchen and each grab a bowl of cereal. Keith sits on the counter to eat his while I stand. “You were really talkative earlier, and now silence. So I guess the only way to get you to talk is to make sure you’re tired?” I shrug. “Glad at least one of us knows.” We finish eating in a comfortable silence. Almost as soon as I finish my bowl Keith jumps down from the counter and tells me to change. He follows me to his room where I do my usual routine of changing in the bathroom. Keith is sitting on his bed when I come in, looking at his phone. 

He put it away when I walked in. “There’s a surprise for you today. We have to get to the clearing- let’s go.”

I follow him to the front door, waving to Adam, who was reading on the sofa with Shiro laying in his lap.

When we walk outside a girl is standing near an apple green four door jeep, Matt climbs out of the passenger side..

“Hey, good to see you again! Surprised Keith hasn’t scared you off yet.” Matt says as he walks passed us and into the house. 

“I thought we were meeting you there?” Keith says, walking up to her.

“My brother found out I was meeting up with you and decided I was dropping him off here instead- hey. Nice to meet you. I’m Katie, but you can call me Pidge.” She walks up to me, holding out her hand. I shake it, and Keith looks at me with a smile on his face.

“I thought it would be a good idea for you to have someone teach you about structured witchcraft, like a coven. She’s going to sit in today and then give you a quick mini lesson.” I smile to show my appreciation.

Keith and Pidge talk on the way there, I sat in the back and just listened. When we finally got to the clearing Pidge sat on a nearby rock while we continued with some mediation- this was supposed to help strengthen my mental connection with my Core. After about a half hour of that Keith wanted me to try and lift an object the same way I did with Shiro. He makes a small pile of leaves and tells me to focus on that, to picture what I want to happen in my mind and then make it real.

“And remember, we only just found your Core yesterday so, just like the meditation, it will take time.” I nod at Keith’s words and try to concentrate. I thought I heard a small flutter, but it was probably just the wind. It was about an hour and a half later, I guess Keith could tell I was tired because he told me to row in. He puts the canoe away while Pidge begins to teach me about covens.

“So, not all covens are the same, some covens just hang out and talk. Some do rituals. Some have leaders and some don’t. Our coven has a leader and a small line of succession. First is our leader, Allura. Then there’s me. The plan was for both of us to come but she had a last minute engagement come up.” I nod, showing that it was okay to continue. “I’ll be telling you about how my particular coven operates. While we do sometimes just sort of hangout we also do rituals and spells. Covens don’t have to strictly practice all day every day.” Keith sits next to me on the dock, having put the canoe away. “Bonding is extremely important, you have to be connected. You have to know each other and be comfortable with each other. Our coven is like a sorority but without the secret hatred for everybody else.” She continues on, talking about different covens and how some other ones operate. Pidge ends up having to leave afterwards but Keith and I hang around, just relaxing. 

Keith was showing me some tricks that he could do, which flamed my enthusiasm for training. I kept wondering what I would learn and what I would be able to do.

Adam and Shiro picked us up about an hour later, they were going to drop us off at the house and then head out for a date night.

Keith decided that instead of hanging around the house that we would go into town. He wanted to get me a phone.

“Don’t shake your head no at me. I’m getting you a phone. Adam and Shiro are going to add you to our plan tomorrow.”

I sit down on the couch, arms folded in protest. “I’ll just go out and get one without you, then.” Keith says as he starts towards the door.

I sigh and follow him. We head into town and he parks his motorcycle outside the store. We walk inside and Keith starts talking to an employee while I walk around and look at the different phones, trying to find the cheapest one. Keith, however, had other plans. I had my back turned when Keith was shoving me in the direction of a display that was much more expensive. “Stop it.” He whispered in my ear.

He was handing me one attached to the display by a little cord. “Try this one, it’s the one I have- I don’t know when the last time you had a phone was so I don’t know if you’ll need help or not.”

I don’t take the phone and cross my arms instead. He smirks again and calls the employee he was talking to over to us. “He likes this one.” Keith says. He and the employee talk a little more and before long we’re walking out with my new phone in tow.

“Has it been long since you’ve had a phone?” He asks.

I shake my head.  _ It’s only been about six months. _

“So you’ll be okay using it and setting it up?” He asks. I nod my head and laugh a little.

We walk around town a little more, the sun beginning to sink. We walk up to an ice cream stand and Keith has me point to what I want. He orders for me and we walk around eating it. By the time we finished the sun had completely set, we were making our way back to Kitten, the name I had silently given his motorcycle, when something hit the back of Keith’s head.

“ _ You. _ ” Sendek’s venomous voice sounds behind us. His heavy footsteps approach, Keith was trying to pull me away but I was frozen in place. Not by ice but by fear.

Sendek shoved me to the ground and turned on Keith. “You thought you could  _ hide _ him? You thought that you could  _ save _ him?” He knocked Keith down on the word hide and kicked him in the ribs on the word save. 

“Lance… run...” Keith said in between coughs, he had some blood drip from his mouth.

The street was empty, nobody was around to witness or help. I still couldn’t move. Sendek kicked Keith a couple more times, knocking him out. My brain was shut down, I had no control over myself- I was Sendek’s punching bag once again. He lifted me up by my shoulders and slammed me against the side of a shop.  _ Closed.  _ My head bounced off of the brick, leaving me with an even worse headache. “We have a lot of catching up to do, don’t you think?” He snarled at me. He was furious. He slammed me against the wall again, commanding me not to lose consciousness. I tried my hardest to stay present, to not black out.

I blinked. I was on the ground. I blinked. Sendek was beating on Keith again. I blinked. Keith was standing. I blinked. I was in the back of a car.

The next time I opened my eyes I was alone in Keith’s room. Hushed voices were heard from the living room. I don’t have the energy to move. I don’t even have the energy to look around. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling.

Keith walks in a few minutes later.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re up. You were out for a couple days. They’re out there talking about taking you to a hospital. We wanted to sooner but Adam had this friend who’s a nurse come and check you out. He said that you’d be okay for a couple of day. I guess I can call that hospital trip off then, unless you want to go?” I just barely shake my head no, “Alright,” he says, “I’ll be right back.” He disappears for a few moments and comes back.

He stands on the side of the bed, unsure. “Is it alright if I-” I cut him off by nodding. He slowly sinks down, I can tell he’s in pain. Once he was comfortable I rolled on my side to face him. I opened my mouth but he cut me off. “If you’re about to apologize, don’t. It’s not at all your fault. None of this was your fault.” I just stare at him, not really sure what to do. “Are you alright?” He asks, his expression shows more than just concern, but I can’t place what. I nod. “He can really throw a punch.” I give a quick and sad smile. 

“I’m proud of you. You know that? I mean, you were able to tough all of this out for who knows how long. You’ve come so far.”

I don’t want to talk about this anymore, all I want to focus on is training. I’m not strong, I’m not tough- I’m just lucky.

“When can we go back to training?” My voice is quite and raspy.  _ Dehydrated. _

“We can go whenever you want, Lance.” I nod and close my eyes, ready for sleep once more. I’m already exhausted.

I woke up in the middle of the night and bolt upright. I don’t remember what was happening, but I know it must have been a nightmare. I was drenched in sweat. I look next to me to make sure I didn’t wake Keith but he wasn’t next to me. I see some faint lights under the door and figure Keith must be in the living room.

I walk out to see him passing a small ball of fire between his hands. He looks up when he hears the floorboards creek. The flame goes out. “Hey, you okay? Why’re you up?”

I just shrug and sit down next to him. He puts his arm around me, noticing I’m covered in sweat. “Bad dream?” He asks. I nod and he pulls me into him. “We can start training again tomorrow, sound good? The home doctor we had coming in discharged me. Well, and you. You just were asleep by the time he came around earlier today.” He traced circles over the back of my hand with his thumb. I don’t know how long it took to fall asleep but when I woke up it was morning.

Keith was already dressed and sitting down on the floor in front of the couch. I get up, change, and we head to the clearing for another unsuccessful day of training. 

*******

More months have gone by than the last time. I had been about a year since I started training, and about seven months since I found my Core. I hadn’t progressed and my emotions were getting more and more out of control.

Keith and I were laying in the grass after a particularly hard training session.. “Hey, I know it’s tough but I promise you that it will definitely pay off. We found your Core and soon you’ll be fluent and onto the next element. Soon you’ll have them all and you’ll be able to do anything you want.” I sit up and bring my knees to my chest, holding them in place with my arms. Keith looks at me for a moment then sits up as well. He wraps his arm around me and I lean against him. “I mean it.” He says. I exhale, looking away from him.

“It’s hard.” I whisper. “I don’t know why people do this.” A small tear escapes off of my chin.

“People do it because it’s beautiful. I know you’re tired, I know how much your head hurts everyday. I know that your situation isn’t exactly helping the matter. I know Sendek-” I snap my head towards Keith at the sound of the name. “I asked Adam if he would be able to find anything on the guy who attacked. He found some old arrests and a court case.”

I don’t know why but that just set me off. Fuck being quiet. Fuck everything. Fuck him. I suddenly stand up, almost knocking Keith over in the process. “Who do you think you are? How come you get to just sweep me up and pry into my life? What the hell does knowing his name have to do with  _ any of this _ ? How come you get to come in and try to be the hero? Who said I even needed saving? I was nowhere near this stressed out until you came into my life. Now suddenly I have a headache everyday and I have three people looking at me like a kicked puppy all the time. I’m not a fucking child Keith, I’m an adult! I don’t need a fucking caretaker!” Keith had stood up somewhere in my rant, but it didn’t matter. A nearby tree had been set on fire and he was frozen in place. The wind had even picked up.  _ Okay, fire equals anger. Ice equals fear, which I already knew. And air, well I don’t know what emotion is tired to air, yet. _

Keith tries to reach for me, he looks hurt and concerned. I just walk off in the opposite direction, trying to find my way out of the forest in the dark.

I hear Keith faintly yelling my name somewhere in the distance. I don’t care, though. My phone vibrates in my pocket.  _ I guess he gave up straining his voice. _ I don’t even bother pulling it out of my pocket. I wander around, trying to get out. I want to say it’s been hours, I stopped hearing Keith long ago. My phone is dead from the amount of times I was called and texted. __

I found my way out of the forest and to the parking lot. I start down the road towards town. Still too pissed off to go back to the house. A couple cars drive by before one pulls to a stop next to me. Pidge rolls down her window. “Dude. What are you doing out here? Get in!” I climb into the back seat. She starts on a long rant about how they’ve been out looking for me. “...and of course I wasn’t just going to  _ not  _ help them look. Matt’s been back at the house. Adam is walking around town and Shiro is driving. Nobody knows where Keith is. I mean, he…” I tune out again.

_Oh God. They’re going to hate me._ _I fucked up so bad._

It wasn’t long before we pulled up to the house, Shiro’s car was back in it’s spot. I saw Keith’s motorcycle. I bet Adam’s inside, too. 

“I texted them when I saw you on the road. They didn’t give up.”

I nod and slowly climb out of the car.

Shiro, Adam, and Matt were in the living room when I walked in. They all jumped up and told me how worried they were, how relieved. Matt stood by the door with Pidge. It took a few minutes for everybody to calm down but I was able to go and find Keith in his room. He was sitting on the floor with his back against the bed. His door was slightly open but I still knocked. He jerked his head to look, then tells me to come in. 

I come in and shut the door all the way, then sit across from him cross legged on the floor. He stared at me the whole time with a glassy look in his eyes. I could tell how exhausted he was.  _ God dammit, Lance. You really fucked up. _

I cleared my throat and spoke quietly, my voice hoarse. “You didn’t deserve that. Any of it. I was stressed and tired and angry. I had been shoving down everything after… after he attacked. I lashed out at you and it wasn’t fair. You and your family are trying to help me and I went and threw back in your face. I really do appreciate everything. I think I just thought ‘Oh, hey. There’s yet another thing somebody has to do for you. Good going, Lance.’ I know that this probably means shit right now, but for what it’s worth- if anything- I’m sorry.” Keith didn’t say anything. Instead he leaned over and wrapped his arms around me, pushing his forehead into the crook of my neck. He was crying. 

“I shouldn’t have let you go. I’m so sorry. You aren’t hurt are you? Are you okay?” He was worrying about me in between his sobs. “Lance, I am so so so sorry.”

He pulls away and scans my face, but I don’t know what he’s looking for. His eyes are red and puffy. His cheeks are slightly pink and his nose is red. “Keith-”

He shakes his head. “No. It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault. I’ve been pushing you so much lately, I didn’t even realize you were keeping everything down. I knew you were throwing yourself into training, but I didn’t realize that it was a distraction. I just thought it was how you were coping.” He goes to hug me again but pulls away. “You must be exhausted. Do you want to sleep? I can go, I can-” Now it was my turn to hug him. “Or I can stay.” He says quietly, wrapping his own arms around me. “How’s your throat? You barely talk and then you went and yelled for like a minute straight. That couldn’t have been good for your v- oh wait. I’m sorry. I’m doing it again, you’re right. You’re an adult and you don’t need someone to take care of you all the tim-” I nod.

“Lance, I don’t know what you’re nodding to.”

“Water.” I sound like a frog.

“Oh!” He reaches up on his end table and hands me an open bottle of water.

I practically chug the whole thing. “Better?” He asks. I nod.

“Come on, we both need some sleep.” I grab some pyjamas and change after taking a shower. Keith is already in bed, halfway asleep when I climb in next to him. He pulls me in as close as he can get me. “Please don’t leave again, Lance. I love you.” And with that he falls asleep.


	3. Chapter Three

In the morning I wake up and Keith isn’t in the room. He’s in the living room eating some cereal when I walk out. I grab a bowl of my own and sit down next to him. He avoids looking at me, swirling around what little is left in his bowl of now mushy cereal. I can tell immediately after looking at him that he didn’t get much sleep. It was probably because of what happened yesterday. Because of what I did.

I can’t get him to look at me so I take the bowl from his hands, place it on the coffee table, and shove myself into his lap. Thankfully this gets his attention as I had no idea what I would have done next. 

“Lance-” He begins but I just shake my head no. He sighs and looks down at me. “You don’t talk and I’m not allowed to say anything. How do you expect to accomplish anything here?” I just shrug in response. “Alright then.” He says. He tries to go back to passing the fire between his hands again, but I don’t let him do that either. 

He rolls his eyes and I get comfortable, still in his lap. My head is resting on his shoulder and my arms are resting in my own lap. I sit like this, waiting for him to move. But he doesn’t. I sign, take his wrists and wrap his arms around my waist. “Am I allowed to speak now?” He asks. I nod.

“I’m sorry about what I said last night. I was really tired and worried. I didn’t mean to say it, really.”

I don’t know how to tell him that it’s okay, that I don’t mind. I’ve never been with somebody before, I’ve honestly never even thought about it. I don’t know what it’s like to have feelings for someone. I don’t know what it’s like to have a relationship.

“I don’t know how to have feelings for somebody.” He looks confused.

“Feelings aren’t something you have to know how to have. They just happen. You can’t control them. Have you never liked somebody before?” I shake my head no.

“I see.” He stands, lifting me with him. “C’mon. We’re not training, unless you want to, but I don’t think it’s fair to the weather if we just stay inside all day.” We walk out to his motorcycle and make our way to the clearing.

I smile at him. He seems to feel better now. 

We make our way out on the lake in the canoe. We pick up the oars and lay in the floating boat. We’re in a comfortable silence and Keith falls asleep. I stare up at the clouds, content with what’s going on in my life. It’s an odd feeling but it’s nice.

I close my eyes and listen to the quiet lapping on the lake against the canoe, the birds and bugs in the distance, the light breeze. It’s serene. It’s perfect. I sigh and smile to myself, putting my hands behind my head.

After about an hour Keith shifts slightly, waking up. “Hey, Lance?” I open my eyes and turn my head towards him, he was sitting up. “Why’re we floating?”

Uhhhh…… because we’re in a boat? I laugh and knock on the canoe. He rolls his eyes. “Not what I meant smartass. I mean we’re in the air.” I shoot up and look over the side- we’re about four feet above the water. 

Keith falls back laughing. “Okay. This might be better than fire.” He says in between his gasps for breath. I laugh along with him and we crash back down into the water, causing us to laugh harder. With us soaked we lay on the shore to dry off a bit before we climb back on his bike.

We just drive around a bit before he pulls in front of an old antique shop. “Want to meet someone else from the coven?” Keith asks, turning his head to look at me. I enthusiastically nod and he climbs off, I’m a bit quicker to the door than he is because I’m excited.

I open the door for him and hear the small jingle of a bell on our way in. A darker-skinned girl with long white-dyed hair is sitting at the counter absorbed in the book she was reading. She’s interrupted by a loud thud in the back room. She jumps up and runs behind the beaded doorway and through the curtain. “Romelle?! Are you okay?”

“The girl we just saw is Allura, and Romelle is her girlfriend. She’s pretty clumsy sometimes. I used to work with Romelle but then she got a job here when she started dating Allura, her family owns the place.” I chuckle then both girls emerge, and Keith holds back the beads and curtain for them. They’re each carrying a large box. They place them on the counter and Romelle thanks Keith. She’s got her blonde hair into pigtails. 

“Allura, Romelle, meet Lance.” I flinch a little when Romelle throws her arms around me, pulling me into a big hug. I don’t think she notices but Keith does. I smile to show him I’m fine while Romelle pulls away and starts unpacking some things from one of the boxes. “It’s great to meet you! I haven’t seen Keith in a good bit, and now I see why.” She smirks at him before returning to her work.

Allura extends her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you Lance, Keith has told me all about you.” Her accent makes it sound like she’s calling me Lonce. I give her a large grin. “I’m so sorry that I wasn't able to be there for your lesson with Pidge. She told me about it though! Did you have any other questions? Did you understand what she said?” I nod after she finishes speaking. “Oh wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that. I talked it over with the rest of the coven and they agreed to extend Keith’s permission for watching certain parts of our meetings to you as well. We hope to help you learn and grow just as we are.”

“I’m honored.” I say quietly. “Thank you.”

“Of course- oh Romelle, honey, those aren’t catalogued yet.” She says, walking off to her girlfriend.

“You three are so lucky. I wish I could be a witch.” Romelle says, almost knocking the other box onto the floor.

“You guys are really busy right now so we’ll do something a bit more formal next time, yeah?” Keith suggests as Allura goes to get another box.

“Absolutely! It was great to meet you, Lance!” Romelle says as Keith and I walk towards the door, but on the way out something catches my eye. I walk over to the large, golden, circular locket. The outside of the circle is an inscription in Spanish. Tú siempre terminaras más fuerte qué antes. 

Keith is looking at the locket over my shoulder. “Uh….. do you know what it says?”

“You will always come out stronger in the end.”

“You can read that?” 

I nod. “Mhm. Spanish is my first language, I’m Cuban.” I keep turning the locket over in my hand.

Allura walks over to us and looks at the locket. “I honestly didn’t ever think someone would want that. It’s been here forever. You can just take it if you want, I have other things I could be putting there and I’m losing money by leaving it out.”

I smile at her, which she returns. I dawn the locket and smile at it.

“Thanks, Allura.” Keith says, and we leave the shop. “Cuban, huh? How did I not know that?” He asks before we climb on the bike. I shrug before taking my place behind him. 

“Are you ready to head back?” He asks. I give a thumbs up and he takes a different route home. 

We’re driving down bumpy, tree lined dirt roads where fireflies have begun to appear and disappear. They light up trees and bushes and twinkle like fairy lights, making it look like Christmas. It’s truly beautiful. We pass a small creek, water steadily flowing.

I tap Keith’s shoulder to get his attention and motion for him to stop. Once he does I go to sit by the creek, taking off my shoes and dipping my feet into the water. Keith joins me and we sit in a comfortable silence. Just listening to the sounds around us. I yawn and lay me head on his shoulder. “Thank you.” I say while looking down. I feel Keith turn his head, presumably to look at me.

“For what?” His voice is low and soft, yet still strong.

“Everything. The training, the food, the bed. And this.” I gesture to the creek. “I never had moments like this when I was on my own. I used to always look over my shoulder. Go from point A to point B as quickly as I could.” I close my eyes to hold in the tears that were starting to form. “Before you I never really lived. I was just walking around and trying not to die. But now I have a life. I have friends and people who actually care about me- even when I fuck up.” 

“I know. That’s part of why I did this, to show you that the world can be beautiful if you look at it the right way. To show you that people can actually be good.” I feel the tears start to dissipate and a warm enfold me. Keith. I learn into him more, the warm making me more tired than I already am. “Hey.” Keith moves slightly the shoulder I’m laying on. “Don’t fall asleep just yet. We have to get home first.” I nod and we stand, headed home. 

It’s extremely hard to stay awake on the way home, as we ride through town I swear I saw Sendak which kept me from relaxing the rest of the ride. It wasn’t until Keith and I were safely inside the house that I could fully breathe. I locked the door as soon as we were in and Keith raised an eyebrow at me. I was about to explain when I hear loud bangs on the door.

I whip my head around and take several large steps away from the door. He found me. He found us.

“LET ME IN! YOU CAN’T HIDE FOREVER!” Sendak was yelling from the other side. The door was shaking from how hard he was hitting it.

I fell to my knees and covered my ears. No, no, no! The banging and yelling got much louder, and Keith was saying something to me that I couldn’t hear. All I could focus on was Sendak just outside the door. I can’t tell how long he was out there, but it sure felt like an eternity. I saw the door splitting and splintering, giving away to his endless pounding.

I just sit there and scream. I know he won’t let me live this time. He’s going to kill me, and Keith. Then Shiro and Adam. It’ll be my fault. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.

“Lance!” Keith is yelling my name over and over. I know I have to look, especially if it’ll be the last time I see him, but I don’t want to. 

I feel something wrap around me and I look to see I’m wrapped in a blanket with Matt standing by the door. Shiro and Adam are in the hall. Keith is kneeling in front of me, holding the blanket closed around me.

“Lance….” Keith says, quietly this time, barely above a whisper. His eyes are frantic and searching. He turns his head to where the three are standing, Matt having joined them. “Could we have a bit, please?” His voice is still low. Shiro nods and the three head towards the front door, probably to drive around for a while. Wait. The door. It’s not broken.

I can’t take my eyes off the door, even after I see the headlights of Shiro’s SUV fade away.

“Hey, what’re you looking at?”

“It’s not broken.”

“What’s not broken?”

“The door. It’s fine. But i-it it broke. Sendak was there. Where did he go? Is he gone? Did he hurt anyone? Did-”

“Lance. He wasn’t here. Matt knocked on the door and-”

“No. No. It was him. I saw him as we drove home and he followed us. He, he-”

Keith pulled me into a hug to stop me from speaking. I just start crying and trembling. “He was here.” I keep repeating that over and over again. Keith runs his hand up and down my back, trying to soothe me and telling me I’m safe.. Once I calm down we head to his room. He pulls me close and brings the blanket really tight around us- not daring to let go. About an hour and a half later I hear noises outside that make me jump and my breath quickens. Keith hugs me tighter. 

“No, hey. It’s okay. It’s just them coming back. You’re safe.” With that I hear the sound of car door and keys in the lock.

I hear Adam and Shiro’s hushed voices in the hall, I can’t make out what they’re saying but they go into their room and it’s silent again. I relax and soon I’m asleep.

I was running down an empty alleyway, desperately trying to get away from him. I turn the corner and slam smack into somebody, I try to utter a quick apology so that I can keep running but the person grabs my wrist. I feel my body grow cold. I don’t have time to run away before I’m thrown to the ground. As is the person who I ran into. Keith.

“No! Don’t hurt him. He hasn’t done anything.” I yell, trying to get Sendak from hurting him. It doesn’t work. He pulls out a knife and stabs it through Keith’s mouth, blood pours from the corners and floods his mouth.

I shoot straight up in bed, drenched in sweat. As soon as I do Keith is hugging me from behind. “It’s okay. It was a dream.”

I turn and bury myself in his torso. “He killed you. It was my fault. The night we met. The alley. You died.”

Keith just calmly shakes his head. “No. Nothing is your fault. You’re safe, I’m safe. Everyone is safe.” I just nod, but refuse to let go.

We lay back down after awhile and I’m about to fall asleep again but I say one last thing before I do. “I love you, too.”

When I wake up Keith is running his hand through my hair. “How do you feel? Are you okay?” I nod. “Good. When you feel up to it we’re getting dressed and going out. Adam and Shiro can come if you want, but even if they don’t we’re taking Shiro’s car.” I nod. “Do you want them to come? It’s okay if you don’t, we understand.” I do nothing. “Okay, it’ll be just us. If you really wanted them to come I’m sure you would’ve indicated so. Do you want something to eat? Water?” I shake my head. I can hear how worried he is. “Okay. I’ll just make sure you have something later, then.” I get up to go and get changed for whatever it was we were doing. I guess Keith took it as his cue to get dressed as well.

I step into the living room, Keith has his hair pulled back. It’s different, it looks nice. We step into the driveway and I look around, cautiously, before walking to the car. Keith grabs my hand. “You’re okay.”

We drive up to a building, I can’t see any signs but the loud barking when we step out of the car gives me an idea. An animal shelter.

“We were talking and if you’re okay with dogs we thought having one around might help.” I give an extremely small smile and nod. He holds my hand and we walk in together. I stay close to him. It’s loud and there’s a lot of people milling around. A friendly woman comes up to us, introducing herself and giving us stickers for our shirts. Keith thanks her and leads me away from the bulk of the people. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were having an event. Do you want to come back when it’s over?” I shake my head. “Okay, but if you want to go just let me know, okay?” I nod. “Do you want a big or small dog?” I shrug. “Okay, we’ll just look at them all and see who we get along the best with.” He lead me through to the least crowded area outside, which was where the large dogs were.

As soon as we stepped out a giant husky, who looked like a wolf, came barreling towards us. He almost knocked us down but the woman from before stopped him. “I am so sorry, we’ve been trying to teach Kosmo here some manners but he just doesn’t seem to absorb any of it.” She laughs and Keith talks to her while I sit down in the grass and play with Kosmo a bit. He’s super friendly. He’s about two and a half years old, pure bred. He was abandoned after losing a dog show and has been here for about a year.

Keith kneels down next to me in the grass, watching me with Kosmo. He turns back to the woman, “I don’t think we’ll need to meet anybody else today.” She smiles, clearly excited.

“That is absolutely wonderful! I’ll go get the paperwork and bring it out to you. As well as a leash.” She walks off and I lean into Keith as Kosmo climbs into our laps and tries to lick both of us at once.

“Did you mean what you said last night?”

I look at him, trying to figure out what he meant. Then it dawned on me. I told him I loved him.

“I am SO sorry, I really shouldn’t be bringing it up right now. Please, ignore that.” I shake my head and kiss his cheek.

“Okay, uhm, maybe don’t ignore it?” I smile a little. “So you meant it?” I nod and his face lights up so much.

It isn’t too much longer that we’ve arrived at home with Kosmo. We took him to a pet store and had him pick out what he wanted, buying everything he touched. The woman from the shelter told us everything about Kosmo. His diet, how he was with other pets, how he was with children, what toys he would like, everything. He was perfect for us.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and laughed SO SO much because Slav. I didn’t know how to fit him in but… well…. you’ll see lol

One the way home we stopped in a nice little dog park since Kosmo was still extremely hyper. We pulled out one of his toys and tried to play fetch with him. Emphasis on tried. We would throw the ball and he would bring it back, he just wouldn't let go of it. And then when we would throw it again he would take it and lay down, squeaking it repeatedly. Kosmo and fetch didn’t work out, but it was kind of funny.

I sat down on a bench and saw Pidge and two people who looked to be her parents. She was holding the black leash to a golden retriever and her father was holding one to a chiuaua. The leash was green and he had on what appeared to be green socks- or booties is what they’re called for dogs I think. I guess she spotted us and came jogging over with the dogs and her parents.

“Hey guys! Who’s this? Can I pet the baby?” Pidge asked as Kosmo perked up, toy still in his mouth, and looked at her while wagging his tail. The small dog was hiding behind Pidge’s father.

“Yeah, you can pet him. His name is Kosmo, we just got him.”

“Katie, don’t be rude.” Her mother said while Pidge sat down in the grass to pet him. “Introduce us!”

Keith just chuckled. “Hi, guys. This is Lance, he’s been staying with us. Lance, this is Samule Holt and his wife Colleen.” I gave a smile and a small wave. “He doesn’t talk much.” Keith explained.

“Oh no worries! It’s lovely to meet you, Lance!” Colleen said.

“Please, call me Sam!” He flashed a friendly smile of his own. “And let’s not forget the two fluffiest members of our family. Bae Bae,” he gestured to the larger dog, “and Slav.” He pointed to the smaller dog. “He has sensitive paws so that’s why we put the green socks on him.” Bae Bae had begun to play with Kosmo and Slav still hid. Sam picked him up and fed him what looked to be dog treats made from freeze dried peas from a small plastic baggy. Sam popped a couple in his mouth and fed some to Slav.

“Sam! Those are for the  _ dogs _ .” Colleen said as though they had gone through this a hundred times already.

Keith laughed and looked at Pidge who was trying to untangle herself from the leashes, the dogs had been chasing each other around her. I knelt down to help as did Keith.

“Is Matt here?” He asked her. I hoped he wasn’t I felt really bad about last night. I probably looked crazy.

“He’s here somewhere, he went to the vending machine so he should be back in a second.”

And as if seemingly on cue Matt came jogging up to them. He saw his father chewing and said “Really?” He seemed to instantly know just exactly what Sam was eating, apparently this was a recurring theme.

“What?” Sam asked, having just swallowed. Colleen laughed.

“I know you love those peas, dad. But come on, you look a little crazy.” Matt said laughing.

Sam put a few more in his mouth and said “If they’re good enough for our pets then they’re good enough for us! Besides, they’re not even specifically for dogs.” Matt rolls his eyes then seems to notice Keith and I- me more specifically.

Matt waves at me. “Hey Lance!” He doesn’t appear to be bothered by what happened last night but I give him an apologetic look. He either doesn’t see it or is trying to tell me it doesn’t bother him. Whichever it is, I still feel bad. We finally get Pidge unstuck and the Holts say goodbye then head off.

Kosmo looks at us, panting. It was starting to get hot outside. “Any last minute stops before home?” Keith asks. I just shake my head and we head back to the car.

When we pull up to the house and Kosmo gets super excited, he runs to the front door so fast it’s like he could teleport. Once we let him inside and unhook his leash he immediately begins sniffing everything and exploring. We head back out to the car to get his stuff and set him up in the living room. The dog bed gets set next to the couch and the toy bin is set near the standing lamp. The food and water dishes go on the corner of the breakfast bar. We put his food in the pantry, and his treats go on top of the fridge. 

Adam walks out and sees all of the new things, Kosmo bounds toward him. Adam did what I did and sat on the ground to accomodate for the amount of weight against his body. “His name is Kosmo.” Keith says laughing. Adam seems to instantly love him by the level of baby talk and amount of laughter.

“I think he’ll fit right in.” Adam says before going back to repeatedly telling Kosmo he loves him.

Shiro steps out from the hallway, “I’m pretty sure you’ve now said I love you to the dog more than me.” He laughs and Adam flips him off.

“Kosmo’s my husband now, you’re mean.” He says.

“Did you all have fun?” Shiro looks between Keith and I, ignoring Adam’s comment.

“Yeah, we took him to the dog park on the way home and saw the Holts. Lance got to meet the rest of them- dogs included.” Keith and I sit at the breakfast bar and I just try to keep to myself, I still feel horrible about last night. I feel a comforting warmth in my stomach and I notice Keith looking at me from his peripheral. I give him a tiny smile that will hopefully indicate I’m okay.

He turns his eyes back to the conversation I tuned out of. The others had turned away from Adam and Kosmo’s apparent engagement and onto a new topic- moving, though when I began to listen to the conversation had just wrapped up. Luckily Keith picked up on the fact that I hadn’t been paying attention. Once Shiro and Adam left, they were meeting with Matt and a few other people, for dinner Keith took the opportunity to catch me up.

“They want to move because this house is getting kind of small. They want you to be able to have your own space and now, with Kosmo, a proper backyard. They said they were looking for some houses and want us to go to a few open houses with them.”

I sit there for a moment before I speak. My voice is quiet and raspy from my meltdown last night. “So,” I clear my throat. It doesn’t help, “you all are moving because of me?”

  
Keith got off of his chair and stood in front of me, looking right into my eyes and grabs my hands in his. “Lance, first of all, there is no ‘you all’, there is  _ us _ . You’re part of this now. And second of all, we aren’t doing this ‘because’ of you, we’re doing this  _ for _ you. For everyone. Besides, they’ve been talking about moving forever now- you and Kosmo just give them a reason to actually go through with it.” I nod, thankful I’m not uprooting everything. I’ve only been here for about six months but I feel at home, I’ve considered this place my home for so long now.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter from Wattpad!

Keith and I were on his motorcycle, zipping through the streets late at night- or rather early in the morning. It was about two o’clock. Keith wanted to show me what the town looked like when it was empty and peaceful. The crickets and streetlights created a movie-like atmosphere. The moon was full and the night was foggy. It was beautiful. He took a sharp turn and then parked. We were in an alley. Well,  _ the  _ alley. The one where we first met. We climbed off and Keith pulled something from his pocket then set it on the ground along with his phone. Within a few moments music began to play softly, the object was a speaker. I felt on edge being back in this alley, it reminded me of Greg. I looked past Keith, over his shoulder. And then back over mine. When I turn my head back Keith was standing in front of me.

“You shouldn’t have to worry like this. I hate that you get this way in town.” Keith is so concerned but I just shrug it off. “In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have done the whole bring-your-significant-other-to-the-first-meet-spot thing. Not with- uhm. Well, you know.”

I peck his lips and he looks apologetic. “I’m sorry.” He whispers. The song changes to another slow one. I wrap my arms around his waist and began to rock. He slips his arms around my neck. We stay like that for a moment until something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. “Lance..?” He turns his head to follow my gaze. Nothing. “Maybe a stray cat?” He suggests, trying to calm me. I have trouble looking back at Keith. “Do you want to go some...” A throat clears where Keith and I had just been looking. I can’t bring myself to look but by the way Keith puts me behind him I can assume it’s nothing good. I hope it’s just some random asshole rather than the person it probably is.

“ _ Leave _ .  _ Us _ .  _ Alone _ . Or this gets ugly.” Keith is backing up toward the wall, making me go with him. Sendek, luckily, stayed still.

“Oh! Ugly you say? I’d say we’re all  _ far  _ past ugly, boy.” He slowly advances, but when Keith and I try to make a run for it he lunges. He grabs Keith and slams him to the wall. I try to rush Sendek but he uses this opportunity to knock me to the ground. In a second he’s kneeling over me, hand on my throat. I struggle and try to get away, Keith’s head is bleeding and he can’t get up.  _ Maybe I need to just let this happen. This is the second time Keith’s been attacked because of me. This is my fault. _ My vision fades in and out and I struggle to stay awake, though I’m pretty convinced at this point that I don’t need to. I give in and let the darkness take me. This is all too familiar of a feeling, it’s happened a multitude of times, though this time is my last. 

Or at least that’s what I had thought. The fact that I woke up in a hospital bed tells me different. I groan and sit up to find an empty room. I feel around for the remote with the call button. Once I do I press it and a nurse comes rushing in. 

“I’m glad to see you’re awake! The man that was found you with, his ID said Keith?” I nod to confirm his name. “Great! Keith is down the hall. A police officer found you both unconscious in an alleyway. Lucky you all had that speaker, without it you wouldn’t have been found in time.” I nodded along with all of this, to show I understood. “Is there anybody we could contact for you both?” I look around for a pen and paper, the nurse hands me a clipboard. I write down Shiro’s contact information and hand it back to her, having also written down that I wanted to know how Keith was doing. “Wonderful!” She takes a moment to read the question. “Keith is fine! He did have quite the head injury and will almost definitely have a concussion. He had to get several staples. He’s still asleep.” I nod. “Okay! I’ll get in contact with,” she takes a second to read the note again, “Shiro, and give you some time to process. Do you need anything? Should I send an officer in?” I shake my head no. “Okay! No worries.” She smiles and leaves the room.

_ Oh no. No no no no no. An officer found us, that means they could want to go to court or something. This is bad, this is so bad. I should have just died. Why didn’t he just kill me? What made him stop? _

I shake my head to get rid of the thoughts, I have to keep my mind sharp for Keith and Shiro and anyone else. I’m worried, yes, but that doesn’t matter right now. For now I just need to hang tight until Keith wakes up or Shiro gets here. Shiro arrives before Keith wakes up, but that’s to be assumed. 

Adam walks in my room, saying Shiro is talking to a nurse and an officer but told him to go ahead. “Hey, how are you?” Adam passes me his phone with the notepad app up. I type out that I’m good and explain a bit about what happened and how Keith is doing. “Yeah, we know. The person who called us filled in the details. The cops want to talk to you but Shiro’s trying to get them to wait for Keith to wake up first.” I nod, and look towards the door as Shiro walks in.

“So, the cops said they’re going to wait as long as we need them to but that it’ll be better when it’s fresh. They’re really nice and told us not to rush.” He says while he approaches my bed.

“That’s great!” Adam says. I nod again and zone out as Adam and Shiro start talking about legal things- lawyers and all of that. A few minutes later a different nurse walks in saying that Keith woke up, but that he only recommends one visitor at a time. Shiro and Adam both look at me and then the nurse. “Is he okay to walk?” Adam asked.

“Yep! He’s good to go. You might be a bit dizzy so I can get you a wheelchair?” The nurse asked. I shake my head no. I’ve been through this a few times, I know what to expect. I stand up and look at the nurse, he leads me to Keith’s room. I walk in and Keith honestly looks horrible.  _ I did this. This is my fault. I hurt him.  _ The nurse walks away, wanting to give us some privacy and Keith looks at me while I hover in the door. 

“Well, come here. And stop being mean to my boyfriend.” As I walk up to Keith he moves over in the bed, giving me room. “Get over here. I was hoping you would be the first one to come. I figured you’d be blaming yourself.” He tells me this as I climb in next to him. Once I do he wraps me in the blanket and his arms, pulling my head against his chest. I’m hesitant but lay my arms across him as well. He starts rubbing my back. “Do you wanna tell me what’s going on?” I just remain silent, not really wanting to talk. I just want him to hold me. I want him to tell me that everything is okay. “Lance?” I look at him and I can feel my eyes welling. “This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Okay? You have to believe me. You have to know this.” I nod along with him, not wanting him to worry. “Lance, I need you to say it. I don’t like telling you when and when not to talk but I  _ need  _ you to say it.”

My mouth is dry and I struggle, both physically and mentally, to say it. But I do. “It’s not my fault.”

He smiles and his own eyes tear up. “Thank you. Are you okay? Nothing too serious?” I nod. “Good. I’m really glad.”

“You?” My mouth is still really dry. There’s so many things I want to talk to him about but really won’t be able to until I get some water.

“I’m good. Really nothing too bad except some bruises and the head. The staples hurt like a-”

“I’m really sorry to interrupt but the police were wondering if it would be okay to talk to you two now?‘

Keith looks down to me for confirmation, I nod. He seems reluctant but answers the nurse anyway. “Yeah, could we just have some water as well?”

The nurse looks surprised. “Of course! You should actually have had some near you, I’m surprised you didn’t. I’ll get you some and let the police know you'll be ready in a few minutes.” Keith tells the nurse to take his time and thanks him. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” He asks, and I know full well if I say no he’d do everything he could to keep us alone. But, I can’t, I have to keep it together. I nod my head yes and he once again is reluctant. In a moment the nurse hands us some water bottles and says the police will be in soon. “C’mon, drink. Especially if you’re going to be talking.” I greedily down almost the entire bottle. Keith chuckles at me, smiling.  _ I’m not ready to die. I don’t want to die. _ That’s the first time in a very,  _ very _ long time that I’ve felt this way. Keith was about to say something else but two officers walked in. It was a little alarming despite the fact we knew they were coming. They were both in full uniform and had deep voices, they were tall and muscular. They introduced themselves and Keith told them they could sit wherever was best for them. They did.

“Now, we know that this is a really difficult situation. We know you two aren’t at your best right now and we’re really grateful for you doing this as soon as possible. We’ll try not to have it take any longer than normal. And,” one of them stepped forward with a thick notebook and pencil, “we know you have a hard time talking.” I’m really grateful that they’re letting me write. 

They ask all the questions you’d expect. What happened, what did you do, what did he do, has this happened before, how long has this been going on, could we pick him out of a lineup, etc etc etc. Nothing of interest happened and as promised the officers finished what they needed quickly, saying they wanted us to just be able to rest and get better. They asked if it was okay to take the paper and I gave it to them- it being well used. Once they left the same nurse as before walked in. 

“Do you two need anything? Are you okay?” Keith looked down at me and I shrugged. 

“I think we’re good, thank you.”

“Okay! Shiro and Adam asked if it was okay for them to come in?” Keith told him they were more than welcome to come in and he left- leaving us alone for barely a minute before Shiro and Adam walked in. 

“Hey, Keith. How’re you feeling?” Shiro asked as he and Adam took the place of the officers, but scooting their chairs closer.

“I’m okay, my head is killing me but I’ll be fine.” He’s smiling, he seems… happy. I don’t know how he can be after I did this to him. After I put him in this position again. After I got him hurt. 

_ Keith said it isn’t your fault. _

_ Well it is. _

I try to listen and participate in the conversation but it’s hard. I think I do a good enough job though because nobody seems focused on me- which is good. I don’t want them putting their attention on me. Keith got the worst of this because of me, they should be focused on him. A different nurse comes in about a half hour into the conversation saying she needs to examine Keith. Shiro and Adam take me back to my room- much to the dismay of Keith.

“Can’t he stay?” He’s a bit upset.

“He’ll be getting checked out soon as well, but when we’re done I can see what arrangements can be made for you two to be roomed together now that you’re both awake.” Keith nods and the nurse begins his check up while I’m ushered into my room. Shiro and Adam ask if I’m hungry and I shake my head no.

“Are you going to be okay if I go down and get some food for Shiro and I?” I look for something to write with, Adam ended up handing me his phone again. I write out  _ You both should go. I’ll be okay. _

“Are you sure?” I nod and smile. I’m sure.

They leave and I’m left alone to just sort of breathe. Now that I know what’s happening I can relax. I’m okay, Keith’s okay. It’s going to be okay. A nurse comes in and says that everything’s been cleared for Keith to be moved into the room with me. That’s good. The police say it’s best if Keith and I are kept at the hospital until they have a more concrete idea about where everything is going to go. 

Nothing too noticable happened over the next couple weeks. Keith and I were discharged and the officers decided that it would be safe for us to go back home. We gave descriptions of Sendak and his name. They promised they would do what they could. It was all stuff I’d heard before but it felt… different this time.


End file.
